The present disclosure relates generally to a hand tool and, more particularly, pertains to a ratcheting wrench head associated with a torque wrench for tightening or loosening a fastener, such as a bolt or a nut, without requiring separation of the wrench head from the fastener.
Wrenches are tools used to tighten or loosen bolts, nuts or the like, which are generally used when mechanical components are assembled or disassembled. Wrenches are classified into open-type wrenches and closed-type wrenches according to the shape of their heads, and open-type wrenches are classified into single open-type wrenches and double open-type wrenches. Specifically, the bolt or nut is tightened when a wrench is turned in one direction, and is loosened when the wrench is turned in an opposite direction.
In general, wrenches include a handle and a head. A handle is a type of bar that can be held by a user. A torque wrench is a special type of wrench that limits the amount of tightening force that can be applied to a bolt or nut. The torque wrench includes removable and replicable heads that can be used with different sized bolts or nuts. The head includes a base portion that extends from one end of the handle, and first and second jaws that extend in parallel from both ends of the base portion that face each other.
In regards to conventional wrenches, if a space sufficient to allow full 360-degree rotation of the handle is not available when the bolt or nut is tightened or loosened by being turned in the appropriate direction, a rotational stroke must be applied to the bolt or nut several times, and after each stroke is applied to the bolt or nut, the wrench must be repeatedly detached from the bolt or nut and returned to the initial position so as to apply another stroke.
In order to overcome the inconvenience of having to detach the wrench from the bolt or nut when a user applies sequential strokes in a particular direction, various ratchetable open-type wrenches have been developed in which one or both of the first and second jaws are provided with ratchet devices. These ratchetable open-type wrenches are currently not available for use with torque wrenches.
Unfortunately, known ratcheting wrenches continue to exhibit certain drawbacks in manufacturing and assembly which lead to decreased lifetime and problems in reliability of ratcheting performance in the wrenches. Such problems include cracking of the wrenches, faulty ratchet device operation due to accumulation of dirt and foreign particles therein, and lack of removability of the ratchet devices for replacement.
Accordingly, it is desirable to overcome the shortcomings of known ratcheting wrenches such as by improving the structure of the jaw design, providing for removal of accumulated foreign material and enabling access to and substitution of ratcheting components.